Coffee Off-Limits!
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Just me on Thursday, May 07, 2009 10:00 AM
Before I had kids, my preferred method of dealing with exhaustion was to caffeinate myself and power through. I didn’t do it often, but when I happened to be exceptionally sleep-deprived, a caffeinated beverage every few hours throughout the day was enough to keep me going.
Then I entered motherhood, and regular long stretches of sleep became a distant, fond memory. More often than ever, I am facing the day with a strong need for caffeine.
Unfortunately, both my children have inherited my sensitivity to caffeine. Since I’m nursing him, if I have even one cup of regular tea in the morning, Blaise will be restless for hours and refuse to nap.
It’s a sad bit of irony - just when I need caffeine more than ever, I can’t have it!
Although this is usually a minor inconvenience, tomorrow it will become a major one. My sister and I are flying down to Florida for our next sister’s graduation from college. I’m bringing Blaise and she’s bringing her nine-month-old. Our flight takes off at 6:00 am and with the various activities of the day, we’ll be up late. It’s going to be a long day.
Without caffeine, I’m going to be dragging. I’m dreading the prospect so much that I even considered trying to pump milk ahead of time and tote it for Blaise to drink while we’re traveling so that I can have caffeine myself, but there are several reasons why that’s not a workable option. I also considered simply having the caffeine and taking the consequences… but of all days to turn my baby into a fussy non-napper, a day that includes three hours of airplane time and a baccalaureate mass is a bad choice.
So here’s what I’m looking for: good ways to keep myself energized that don’t involve caffeine. I imagine every parent out there has dealt with sleep deprivation at one time or another, and I’m guessing many of you have also had to do it un-caffeinated at one time or another. Do you have good tips that will help me keep going when I’m running on fumes? I’d sure appreciate it!
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